The US is getting closer and closer to a nationwide ban on TikTok. These short, shareable videos make it the biggest social app. Get this: 150 million Americans use TikTok, including about two-thirds of teenagers.
Do you think? TikTok is a national security threat. The parent company of Chinese social media platform ByteDance is based in Beijing and is required by Chinese law to provide the government with access to the data it collects. (By the way, if you want to keep up to date with technical topics in a simple way, join the over 400,000 people who receive my free daily newsletter and sign here.)
TikTok collects data that includes search and browsing history, facial identification, voice prints, texts, location, and photos. Here’s the catch: you can watch videos without creating an account. Is it safe to do it? The answer below will shock you.
Talk to your children
This is out of the question: TikTok collects all sorts of user data. It’s also built from the ground up to be addictive, making it easy to share quick videos tailored to each user’s interests.
Also, there are viral “challenges” that can cause injury or death – have you ever heard of a suffocation or unconsciousness challenge? it’s horrible.
The person using TikTok doesn’t know how they track them. (Cyberguy.com)
All this is quite dangerous, and young people are especially vulnerable. As a parent, you can prevent your children from visiting certain websites or downloading certain applications. It’s all good, but it’s not enough.
V Wall Street Journal reports that kids with TikTok accounts are sending screen recordings to their friends who can’t access the app themselves. Kids fill their phones with these video clips to the point where they can’t even update them.
Are you safe just watching the video?
You don’t need a TikTok account to view content. People with accounts can simply send you links. You still share some information with TikTok, for example in your browser, when you view it elsewhere. According to Caitlin Fennessy, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, your browser type, phone information and IP address are available for capture.
TikTok videos are popular enough to be found on almost every social media and video hosting platform, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This is where it gets tricky.
Someone can upload a video to another platform that is not connected to TikTok. It’s just a clip that exists on their Facebook profile. You will be able to interact with it as a Facebook user, but you won’t be able to use the TikTok features normally found in videos.
The video can be uploaded to another platform and linked to the original TikTok source. You will see some signs of this, and if you click on the video, you will be taken to TikTok. In this case, some of your information is likely to be collected.
GENERAL TIKTOK IS ABOUT CHINA’S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
In addition to the danger of the application itself, the platform is a breeding ground for fraud. This is how some grieving families lost something more irreplaceable than money.
Is anyone safe?
Let’s say you don’t have the TikTok app installed, or you don’t click links to watch videos. You’re doing well, right? This is where pixels come in.
Big tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google use small pieces of code called pixels to track users. TikTok is no exception, with pixels installed on retail, e-commerce, travel, technology, and government websites. Data such as your IP address, shopping cart contents and search queries are collected when you visit these sites.
Rep. Tony Cardenas, Democrat of California, speaks at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S. Thursday, March 23, 2023 company in his debut speech before Congress, where belligerent lawmakers made it clear they weren’t honoring his promise to keep users and their data safe. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Speaking to Consumer Reports, a TikTok spokesperson acknowledged that the company collects data from people who don’t have a TikTok account and uses it for “aggregated reports they send to advertisers about their websites.”
There really is no way to know which websites are using pixels. This is another reason to be careful with any information you share, as well as which links and advertisements you click.
Get your personal information from the Internet. Get started with this list of people search sites.
What can you do about it?
You don’t have full control over pop-ups while browsing the web or social media, but you can control your clicks. Don’t open anything suspicious or enticing with a crazy headline.
10 seconds of stupidity is not worth the risk of giving up your data.
If you or your loved one has TikTok installed, uninstall it now. It’s never too late! Here’s how:
Delete TikTok from your iPhone
- Tap and hold tik tok app.
- Tap Remove App.
- Tap Delete appthen touch Delete confirm.
Delete TikTok from your Android phone
- open Google Play app.
- In the upper right corner, tap the icon profile icon.
- Tap App and device management and then Manage.
- Click tik tok app.
- Tap delete.
Some tracking information may remain on your phone even after you delete it.
Another important step
To completely remove TikTok, go nuclear. Your best bet is to do a hard reset on your phone. Here’s how to do it. Pro tip: Back up your data first!
More than just TikTok
ByteDance operates at least two other widely downloaded programs.
CapCut is a popular video editing software, and Lark is a team collaboration app that spying and reporting to ByteDance, who then leaks the data to the Chinese Communists. It’s not just TikTok. If you ask me, every ByteDance product should be banned in America.
LEAD TIKTOK LOBBYIST PREVIOUSLY ADVISED FORM TECH EQUITY CLOSE TO HUNTER BIDEN
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Application for TikTok on the phone screen. Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden has confirmed that TikTok will be banned from government devices after review. Photo date: Thursday, March 16, 2023 (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
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